Full Title: Taking Inventory Finding Solutions to Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Well Abandonment Problems
Author(s): Ted Boettner and Aimee Mantell
Publisher(s): Ohio River Valley Institute
Publication Date: June 12, 2025
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Pennsylvania is ground zero for the abandoned oil and gas well crisis in the United States. The state’s long history of drilling, dating back to the late 1850s, has culminated in hundreds of thousands of unplugged wells that are spread across the state. Many of these wells are leaking harmful pollutants and hazardous chemicals that pose significant risk to human health, the environment, and the climate. Left unplugged, these wells can lower property values, contaminate the soil and groundwater, and leak harmful methane into the air. Improperly plugged oil and gas wells, including decommissioned shale gas wells, can also leak methane that adds greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.